Durham's Rant: 'Zidane, Xavi and the rest are wrong to claim Scholes is a legend'

Paul Scholes was MASSIVELY over-rated. Maybe because he could pass a ball, maybe because he was always surrounded by superb players at Manchester United.

Scholes was a really good top four player, that’s not up for debate. But when Xavi says he was the best for the past 15-20 years and Zidane says he’s the complete midfielder, they are clearly wrong. Players are notoriously not very bright so I wouldn’t read too much into what they say. They’re hardly going to criticise him, are they?

Scholes couldn’t tackle, it’s a cliché but it’s true. That tackling cost Manchester United the FA Cup semi-final last season against City. And his poor tackling cost him a Champions League final place in 1999.

Scholes had nothing like the world class ability of Gazza. He didn’t have the work-rate or tackling ability of Ince. He didn’t score as many goals as Lampard. Beckham was a better passer. And he didn't have the ability to completely transform a game like Gerrard. I don’t remember United turning to Scholes to rescue them.

Scholes was easily good enough to justify Fergie’s consistent selection of him over the years, he deserved his medals. But people get carried away. He was a very good midfielder but there have been better in his era, even better English midfielders.

And he never fulfilled his England potential, which is a football crime. I threw that out on Twitter earlier (@talkSPORTDrive) and the response was predictable. Most said it wasn’t Scholes’ fault he was forced to play on the left. Well, if that was the problem, then that really does disprove Zidane’s assertion that Scholes was the complete midfielder. Others said it was the poor players around him in the England side. Poor players didn’t stop Zidane taking France to World Cup glory in 1998.

Terrific player Paul Scholes, top ginger. But let’s keep it in perspective. He actually wasn’t as legendary as some are making out.